The Black and Gold found a silver lining in producing its best ever finish.
The host Oilfields Drillers made the most of their hometown support at the 2A Boys Volleyball Provincial Championships in grinding out a pair of tiebreaker wins to advance to the playoffs for the first time in program history on a gruelling Saturday in Black Diamond.
“We all had dreams of going to the final,” said Drillers setter Kaiden Powell. “But the fact we got third in zones and were the only team seeded that low coming into this tournament and then making it to playoffs is a big feat for us and our school.
“It’s a huge thing to be able to build school spirit. I hope to see sports teams go further in the future and move forward with our sports.”
The Drillers entered the third day of competition with a 2-2 record and its playoff hopes very much in the air.
The final round-robin game went the way of Taber’s St. Mary’s Celtics in straight sets with its six-foot-four middle Kaleb Muller leading the charge with thunderous hits at the net.
The result produced a three-way tie for third place putting the Celtics, the Drillers and the West Island College Wolves in a complicated tiebreaker formula to determine the final playoff spot out of the Gold Pool.
Oilfields had to take out both of their foes in winner take-all one set matches to hit the playoff round.
“The crowd was a great energy boost,” said Drillers middle Connor Caron. “Playing in our home gym, getting this far and that energy from the crowd was amazing and actually drove us to actually be able to play those games.”
First up, the Drillers dispatched the Wolves by a 25-20 count due in part to its terrific blocking in the front row from the likes of middle Deklan Baker and power Colton MacKay.
“We tried to limit the unforced errors. We know it’s do or die so we tried as hard as we could,” said Drillers power Riley Grusing. “We just wanted to do it. We left it all on the court and tried to do it as a team.”
Oilfields then made good on its second shot at St. Mary’s.
Keying in on Muller’s big hits and riding the momentum late in the contest, the Drillers went on a 15-10 run to close out a nail-biter 25-22 victory in the one set match.
“They had their really big guy (Muller) and we made adjustments as a team,” Grusing added. “The back row was more ready and we worked together more in the front row to block him.”
Getting through the tiebreaker earned Oilfields a quarterfinal date with the St. Michael’s Dragons, the second seed out of the Black Pool.
With a boisterous crowd on both sides serenading their teams, the crossover match looked poised to be a classic with an 11-11 score midway through the first set.
The Dragons then hit their stride with a 9-0 run to take command of the opener, winning it by a 25-19 count.
The Pincher Creek school kept it rolling in the second set, picking up 13 of the first 16 points en route to the 25-14 triumph to take the best-of-three match by a 2-0 count.
“St. Michael’s is a great team,” said Drillers head coach Leigh Bretzlaff. “We were there in the first set halfway through and just ran out of energy a little bit. The boys battled well. I was proud of them.
“They’re like brothers. They will go to bat for each other all the time. Just a great group of kids where the right chemistry is there.”
For good reason.
Hosting their first provincial tournament as a school in 14 years, the Drillers produced their best finish outside of the gridiron where the football team won banners in 1999 and 2000.
“It’s not about the wins and losses. It’s about creating a culture in our school,” Bretzlaff said. “The fans were amazing all weekend for us. Kids as young as Grade 4 or 5 are coming to your school and they’re saying ‘I want to be a Driller. I want to be part of something like this.’
“It’s about something bigger than just our volleyball team. It’s about our school, our community.”
The South Central Zone champion Strathcona-Tweedsmuir Spartans saw their run halted in the tiebreaker round despite a surge of strong performances.
The Spartans lost their first two matches and rebounded for three straight victories over J.H. Picard, Pigeon Lake and Rundle College.
STS squared off with Rundle again in the tiebreaker with the Cobras getting the better of their foes in the rematch to clinch its spot in the playoff round. Central Alberta Christian High took the gold medal in the tournament, outlasting Rundle in the championship match. St. Michael’s edged La Crete to take the bronze medal.
For more information go to asaa.ca/championships
